I was scrolling through Instagram the other day, something that occurs way too often and I am working on putting boundaries on, but I digress. When I was scrolling, I saw a caption that began with, “I don’t want to seem like I’m bragging, but…”
After reading the rest of the caption, the person shared about a huge accomplishment. Something they should be proud of, yet they were worried about seeming like they were being too boastful. The first thought that came to my mind was, “Why can’t we be proud of our accomplishments and share them with others?”
I am a big, I mean huge, advocate of celebrating every single win, no matter how small. And while I don’t believe every win needs to be shared on social media, we should be celebrating them. Every time. No exceptions.
One hundred words were written – yes!
A post created on social – woohoo!
Got research done for a project – absolutely!
Resting and self-care – a thousand times yes!
So why should we be expected to play it cool when we do something really exciting like finish writing an entire freaking book? Something that big is something to be celebrated, for sure!
Yet, research shows it is better to show modesty than to appear boastful as evidenced by this quote from a Time article, “Overall, though, study participants looked most favorably upon modest people: those who made a self-equalizing statement, even when outside information suggested they were either smarter or friendlier than others. This result, the researchers say, suggests that social media hasn’t eroded our cultural preference for modesty.”
In the Wall Street Journal article, “When is it OK to Brag?” they said this: “Bragging is risky. Past research shows that braggarts can be perceived as narcissistic and less moral. In addition, they tend to be less well-adjusted, struggle in relationships and may have lower self-esteem. Women who brag are judged more harshly than men who do.”
Psychology Today says in their article, “Given that there are six unacceptable types of bragging and only one that is acceptable, the odds are definitely stacked against your favor for any type of bragging at all.”
And the only acceptable way to brag according to Psychology Today is to share what someone else said about you in a documented conversation. That’s it. That is the only way it is acceptable to celebrate your win publicly. If nobody knows about it yet, how can they talk about it?
We deserve to be excited when we are proud of something.
We are allowed to share that excitement.
And every win should be celebrated. No matter how small or silly. Period.
Now, I am not suggesting that we should start telling everyone how wonderful we are all the time, because that is not what I am talking about at all. I am suggesting that we shouldn’t have to feel afraid to shout from the rooftops our accomplishments that we are proud of. We work hard on these successes, and they deserve to be celebrated.
I 100% agree with you! I run a women’s goal group and we foster that idea that celebrating wins and accomplishments is HEALTHY! We’ve been conditioned not to do that for fear of upsetting someone else’s psyche – but now seeing a group of women celebrate each other I find it much more rewarding. We should be encouraging each other TO celebrate our wins and achievements, not hide them.
YES! We also downplay our accomplishments in an effort to seem humble, not to brag. But by celebrating our wins, we are giving permission to others to do the same. CELEBRATE!! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!